Overview
- The FreSU index, which was presented Tuesday at APLA in Buenos Aires, sets the Salario Mínimo, Vital y Móvil at $3,178,287 as the monthly amount needed to cover nine constitutionally defined needs.
- The calculation breaks down costs for food, housing, health, education, transport and other items and produces a total more than eight times the current statutory minimum.
- FreSU and participating leaders quantified large accumulated purchasing-power losses since Javier Milei took office, estimating average private-sector losses of about $3,192,523 and public-sector losses near $16,594,583.
- The report argues that official signs of lower inflation reflect falling demand and warns this squeeze on incomes raises the risk of a sharp currency devaluation; the government has defended its fiscal-surplus approach.
- FreSU is a coalition of combative unions including ATE, UOM, aceiteros, docentes and aeronáuticos, and it uses a methodology that updates earlier INDEC-style needs calculations to press for a politically driven wage renegotiation and wider public debate.